Transcript

00:00:02

>> Apple is doubling down on China, CEO Tim Cook saying this week is planning to build a new R&D center there. He actually met the call from China his second visit in four months, it maybe Apple just want a new Chinese facility. Reuter's Paul Carson reports the timing suggests alternative motive.

00:00:19

>> Just a few months ago China's minister of information technology and industry told Apple's Tim Cook that he would welcome the company investing in R&D in China. And now Apple is doing that, even more interesting, Apple is struggling very much in China. Partly because the government has been shutting down its bookstores, its film stores giving it problems with other software.

00:00:43

They've right into IP issues here, and now their sales are falling quite sharply. So getting the government on Apple's good side must be a priority for them.>> It's a move out of the old playbook when it comes to doing business in China, but there is little guarantee it will actually work.

00:00:58

Microsoft has for many years invested in China despite making very little money here, and now it's now it's still the subject of an anti monopoly investigation. Qualcomm also kept making big statements but how much it was cooperating with China, how much it was investing in China, and then it was slammed with the biggest anti monopoly fine, I think that's ever been given in China.

00:01:20

For anyone to say that this behavior has worked in the past and could work for Apple, would be very optimistic.>> Apple had started down the investment road even before it Cook's charm offensive, announcing $1 billion dollar deal with China's Uber like app, Didi Chuxing. The country was once the next big market for Apple.

00:01:37

Some say if these moves don't help unlock business there, it's hard to see what will.